分別功德論 4.45

4.45

所以稱婆迦利比丘得信解脫者，此比丘久病著床乃經六年，諸瞻視者皆悉捨去。比丘自念：「疾病經久，瞻視疲倦，甚可患厭，又復如來不見垂愍，且當自害以除患苦。」即便索刀，向刀說曰：「但當殺我，亦當斷結耶？」說訖以刀自刎，正至咽半已得漏盡，比至頭斷以取涅槃。于時大地震動乃感波旬。波旬念曰：「此何瑞應乃爾震動？」即以天眼觀見比丘自殘。「其形神為所趣？」遍觀諸天不見其神，復觀人中亦不見之，復觀三惡道中亦復不見。時佛將諸比丘欲耶旬之，見屍火起。此波旬放火覓比丘神，都不知所在。所以覓者，欲知進趣，壞令不成。諸比丘便耶旬之。佛歎此比丘得信解脫。或曰：夫至信者委命自然，尚不執杖，何以自防況復自害耶？答曰：信所以執刀者，以刀為慧劍，欲擬斷諸結。身即結本，根辟則支從、身斷則結除，是以執刀者不為妨閡也，執信刀斷疑樹故。下句云，意無猶豫。從信解脫至無疑解脫者，即轉鈍為利也。以是義故，稱信解脫為第一也。

The reason why the monk Vakkali is said to have attained liberation through faith is that this monk had been bedridden with illness for six years, and all his caretakers had abandoned him. The monk thought to himself: 'My illness has lasted so long; the caretakers are weary, which is utterly distressing. Furthermore, the Tathāgata shows no pity to me. I should rather kill myself to end this suffering.' He immediately asked for a knife, and speaking to the knife, said: 'Will you only kill me, or will you also cut off the fetters?' Having said this, he slit his throat with the knife. When it reached halfway through his throat, he had already attained the destruction of the outflows, and by the time his head was severed, he had entered nirvāṇa. At that time, the great earth shook, moving even Pāpīmān. Pāpīmān thought: 'What omen has caused such an earthquake?' Using his divine eye, he saw that the monk had killed himself. [He wondered]: 'Where has his consciousness gone?' Looking all throughout the heavens, he did not see his spirit; looking among humans, he did not see it either; looking in the three bad destinies, he still did not see it. At that time, the Buddha led the monks to cremate him, and saw fire rising from the corpse. This was Pāpīmān setting a fire to search for the monk's spirit, entirely unable to find its whereabouts. The reason he searched was to know his destination and ruin it so that he would not succeed. The monks then cremated him. The Buddha praised this monk for attaining liberation through faith. Someone asked: One of supreme faith entrusts his life to what is natural; he would not even hold a staff to protect himself, so how could he kill himself? The answer is: The reason why one of faith wielded the knife was that he took the knife as the sword of wisdom, intending to cut off all fetters. The body is the root of the fetters; when the root is cleared, the branches follow, and when the body is severed, the fetters are removed. Therefore, wielding the knife was no hindrance, for he wielded the knife of faith to cut down the tree of doubt. As the later line says: his mind was without hesitation. Going from liberation through faith to liberation without doubt is transforming dull faculties into sharp ones. For this reason, he is proclaimed foremost among those who attain liberation through faith.